This invention relates to the art of power driven threading machines and, more particularly, to an attachment for covering and sealing the oil reservoir of such a machine to facilitate transportation and storage of the machine without having to drain the oil reservoir.
It is of course well known that power driven threading machines generally include tools for cutting, reaming and threading workpieces such as pipes or rods and that, in connection with such metalworking operations, a lubricating and cooling liquid such as oil is directed against the workpiece and tooling, collected in a reservoir therebeneath and circulated between the reservoir and the point of application to the workpiece and tooling by a pump. It is likewise well known to provide both wheeled and wheelless stands to support such threading machines during use and to facilitate the portability thereof from one location to another and the storage thereof during periods of non-use. Certain wheeled stands heretofore provided for the latter purposes are of a structural character which provides for folding of the stand with the threading machine thereon into a configuration in which the stand is in the form of a dolly having wheels at one end and a handle at the other. Such a stand provides for wheeled movement of the machine thereon in an inclined disposition relative to an underlying surface and, in some instances, storage of the machine on the stand in such an inclined disposition.
It will be appreciated that the displacement of wheelless stands from one location to another, such as by lifting and carrying the stand and the machine thereon, often results in the oil in the machine's reservoir splashing out of the reservoir either onto other parts of the machine and stand, the operator or operators moving the machine and stand, or the underlying surface along which the stand is being moved. Similarly, in moving a threading machine on a non-folding stand having wheels at one end, the opposite end of the stand is elevated to facilitate wheeled movement and, depending on the condition of the underlying surface, such wheeled movement can result in vibration, bouncing and the like of the stand and machine and thus the splashing of oil from the reservoir. Moreover, the lifting of one end of the stand results in movement of the oil level in the reservoir toward the upper edge of one wall thereof, thus promoting the likelihood of splashing of oil from the reservoir during movement of the stand.
In connection with a stand which is capable of being folded and used in the manner of a wheeled dolly to move and/or store the threading machine in an inclined disposition, it will be readily appreciated that the stand and machine are at such an incline that it is necessary to drain the reservoir prior to such movement or storage of the machine and stand to prevent the pouring or spilling of oil from the reservoir. Such draining of the reservoir may also be advisable in connection with the movement of non-folding stands to preclude the splashing of oil which not only results in a clean-up operation but also in a loss of oil. However, such draining of the reservoir is undesirable for a number of reasons. In this respect, the draining operation is time consuming and requires a separate storage receptacle for the oil. Then, both the machine and the storage receptacle have to be transported and stored and, prior to subsequent use of the machine, the oil has to be replaced therein. Accordingly, it becomes advantageous to avoid having to drain the oil reservoir of the threading machine while, at the same time, providing a threading machine to be transportable and storable, even in a disposition inclined to horizontal, without the loss of oil from the machine reservoir.